Bolivia takes Chile to UN’s top court to get sea access
THE HAGUE: Landlocked Bolivia took its neighbour Chile to court, seeking to resolve a century-old dispute over precious access to the Pacific Ocean which has bedevilled bilateral ties.
La Paz is urging Santiago to return to talks, contending it has “an obligation to negotiate with Bolivia in order to reach an agreement granting Bolivia a fully sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean”.
In a sign of the country’s determination, Bolivian President Evo Morales is heading up the Bolivian delegation to the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague.
“We have history, justice and right on our side,” Morales said in a Tweet as seven days of hearings into the case opened in The Hague yesterday.
Bolivia, South America’s poorest country, became landlocked after losing a four-year war against Chile in 1883, forfeiting territory and its access to the sea.
Following some 130 years of fruitless negotiations with Santiago, La Paz lodged a complaint with the ICJ in April 2013.
“We have waited a long time for this opportunity, but we are a patient and determined people,” said former Bolivian president Eduardo Rodriguez Veltze, addressing the court.
Chile had made “a repeated and consistent commitment to Bolivia to end its landlocked situation,” he maintained, saying the lack of sea access had had a devastating effect on the impoverished country’s development.
“By fulfilling this promise to its neighbour, two countries united by culture, geography, history and fraternal spirit can heal all wounds and move forward,” Veltze added.
Bolivia once had 400km of coastline in the Atacama desert.
“Today it has none,” Veltze said. — AFP